Ethically Sourced Tea

As a member of the Ethical Tea Partnership, we're working along with other buyers to improve conditions across the tea industry.

Our tea brand Tazo is dedicated to bringing high-quality, distinctive blends to our customers. We support communities that produce Tazo® tea ingredients through the CHAI (Community Health and Advancement Initiative) project, a joint partnership with Mercy Corps. This project targets the needs of tea- and spice-growing communities with health services, youth involvement and economic advancement. Since 2003, Starbucks and our tea suppliers have contributed $2.4 million to the CHAI project, including $530,000 in fiscal 2008. At the end of FY11, the Starbucks Foundation approved $750,00 to fund the CHAI project for the next three year.

In the past two years alone, the CHAI project has helped improve standards of living for more than 28,000 residents in the Darjeeling and Assam regions of India and Alta Verapaz in Guatemala.